the sunlight on her skin
by ncfan
Summary: Elenwe felt the light wash over her skin, and smiled. AU. [Arien/Elenwe for Femslash February.]


I own nothing.

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When Elenwë was in darkness, the memory of light never left her. She would be surprised if it left any of them, for they were Calaquendi, children of the Light, and light's memory was dearer to them in darkness than their own lives. All the darkness served was to remind them of what they had lost.

Elenwë found her thoughts turning to the days of her youth before she left Taniquetil for Tirion. As a child, she had been often among the Trees, among gentle silver Silpion and fiery golden Malinalda. The Quendi could at any time venture beneath the leaves and flowers of Silpion, but needed to exercise caution as regards to Malinalda, for the dew which gathered on her leaves would burn if it came into contact with a Quendë's skin.

She had been a child the first time she saw Arien, accompanied by other Maiar as they shook the dew from Malinalda's branches into great jars for storage (Elenwë had never discovered what the dew was used for). Arien, impossibly tall and bright, her eyes concealed behind a sheer blindfold (and gleaming like beacons behind it), cut an arresting figure.

Elenwë had strayed from her parents' side once the dew was collected, wandering in wonder beneath the shining golden leaves of Malinalda, the fruit glimmering like stars. She found Arien sitting beneath the trunk, one leg folded over the other, and smiled giddily when the Maia turned and looked at her.

Over the years, until Elenwë went to live among the Noldor, she sought out Arien many times. Whenever she could excuse herself from her duties in her home or in the Minyarin court, she sought Arien's company beneath Malinalda. What they spoke of, Elenwë said little, though her mother and her grandmother were deeply curious. What they did, Elenwë would not say. It was for her to know, her and Arien, and no one else.

She was remembering the last time she saw Arien, the memory of heat so great it threatened to burn her vivid even now, in the cold and the dark. Oh yes, Elenwë remembered it well. She frowned though, and pulled her cloak closer to herself. _Why remember it now?_

Even when she did not dwell on it, she could not forget: perfect warmth so all-encompassing that when she felt it, she forgot even the slightest sensation of cold.

Over endless treks of ice and snow did the Noldor (and one Minya) struggle. Their despair deepened with every life lost, with every cycle of newly-risen Rána that gave them no warmth, no relief for the bitter cold that pierced them to the bones. It seemed that they would wander until they starved, or until at last they were overcome by the cold, and laid down in the snow, unwilling or unable to rise again.

But as snow began to give way to rock and spires of ice to cruel, barren mountains, there came a glimmer of light on the eastern horizon.

As a brilliant, burning orb of fire rose in the sky, a great clamor arose among the Noldor. Where before their voices rose had risen in lamentation, in screams and in wails, now there was laughter to be heard, praises and thanksgiving to Varda—for it was from Varda that they supposed this sign had come, as they supposed it with Rána.

And Elenwë? Elenwë merely smiled, as the light washed over her skin, as it had before beneath the branches of Malinalda, in Arien's arms.

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**Calaquendi**—"Elves of the Light"; the Elves who came to Aman from Cuiviénen, or were born there, especially those born during the Years of the Trees and had born witness to their light; the Vanyar, the Noldor, and the Falmari (singular: Calaquendë) (Quenya)  
**Silpion**—'Shining Lights'; a name of Telperion, the elder of the Two Trees of Valinor; a name I envision to be one of its older titles, and thus still commonly used by the Vanyar  
**Malinalda**—'Tree of Gold'; a name of Laurelin, the younger of the Two Trees of Valinor; a name I envision to be one of its older titles, and thus still commonly used by the Vanyar  
**Quendi**—literally 'the Speakers'; Elves (singular: Quendë) (Quenya)  
**Minyar**—'Firsts', the first clan of the Elves of Cuiviénen, who were named for Imin and Iminyë, the former of whom was the first Elf to awaken. The Noldor called them 'Vanyar', 'Fair ones' (rendered in Primitive Quendian as 'wanjā', and rendered in Telerin as 'Vaniai'), due to the nearly-universal trait of fair hair among the clan, but even in Aman, they still often referred to themselves as 'Minyar.' (Singular: Minya) (Adjectival form: Minyarin)  
**Rána**—a name given to the Moon by the Noldorin Exiles, signifying 'The Wanderer' (Exilic Quenya); of the Sun and the Moon, it is the elder of the two vessels, lit by Telperion's last flower; in an early version of 'Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor' was said to be "the giver of visions" (_The Lost Road _264).


End file.
